The Yalebound Pumpkin
by Taer
Summary: Lorelai remembers the good times with Rory.


DISCLAIMER: Do you own the characters? No… I own- gum.

She retrieved a water bottle from the refrigerator, and walked into Rory's old room. Its emptiness shook her, and the memories surrounded her.

888

_Rory bounded up the stairs and into Luke's diner. She sported her brand new pumpkin costume that Lorelai had made for her. It was Halloween. Lorelai trailed behind, clad in a big flannel shirt, jeans, work boots, a backwards baseball cap, the works. She had drawn in little ingrown hairs around her face with eyeliner._

_"Luke! Do you have candy?" Rory squealed happily, holding out her candy holding bag, which matched her outfit. It _was_ a pumpkin, after all. _

_"That stuff will kill you." Luke said gruffly, though Lorelai could see a little grin pulling at his lips as he took in Rory's appearance. _He obviously has not seen my costume yet. _Lorelai thought menacingly. Lorelai directed her attention on her little girl again, who had proceeded to pout. Luke rolled his eyes and threw a Milky Way in her bag. Rory smiled and attached herself to Luke in a big hug. _

_"Ah, geez. Lorelai, I think this belongs to you." He said, trying to sound tough, though everyone in the diner could see Luke was thrilled with Rory's little act of appreciation. "Lorelai! What are you wearing?" He suddenly exclaimed, taking in her costume._

_"Come on, Rory, lets go!" Lorelai said, leading her daughter out of the diner quickly._

_888_

Lorelai threw her water bottle against the wall, jumping slightly when it hit. She put her face in her hands and wept softly.

888

_Sookie and Lorelai stood in the Independence Inn kitchen, giggling. Lorelai notices Rory walk in, and they stop abruptly._

_"Mom?" Rory asks, apprehensively. This can only lead to trouble. She thought, a confused lookmaking itselfcomfortable on her face. "You're happy." _

_"Yeah." Lorelai admitted, a smile dancing across her face, her hand clutching a gift bag tightly._

_"Did you do something slutty?" Rory asked, her features still fixed in a confused manner. _

_"I'm not that happy." Lorelai said, stifling a laugh. Sookie joins in, the sound of her high pitched little giggle filling the room._

_"Here." Lorelai thrusts the gift bag under Rory's nose. She takes it slowly._

_"What's going on?" Rory asked slowly, examining the bag._

_"Open it." Rory pulls out the plaid skirt she would be wearing for the next few years._

_"I'm gonna be in a Britney Spears video?"_ It was as good a guess as any,_ Rory decided._

_Sookie couldn't hold back anymore. "You're going to Chilton! Oh, sorry." Her hand flew up to cover her mouth. _

_"Mom?" Rory searched her mothers face for verification. _

_"You did it, babe. You got in." Lorelai exclaimed. _

_"How did this happen? You didn't. . .with the principal, did you?" Rory asked hesitantly, though she was clearly kidding around. _

_"No, honey, that was a joke. They have an open spot. You're gonna start on Monday!" Lorelai said happily. _

_"Really?" _

_"Really." _

_"I don't believe this! Oh my God, I'm going to Chilton!" Rory squealed happily. _

_"Yeah!" Lorelai said, looking at her daughter adoringly. _

_Rory tackled her mother in a big hug._

_"Sookie, I'm going to Chilton!" Rory and Sookie hugged, both wearing huge smiles._

_"I'll make cookies. Protestants love oatmeal." Sookiegiggled. _

_"I have to call Lane." _

_She turned to leave, but ran back over to Lorelai, and a second hug was shared between mother and daughter._

_"I love you." _

_"I love _**you."** _Lorelai assured her daughter, before letting her go. Rory ran out the door, rushing to the nearest phone to call Lane._

_"My girl's going to Chilton." Lorelai said, her eyes shining with tears. _

_888_

"The moments here! Lets go!" Luke called from the porch. Lorelai frantically wiped at her eyes, looking around the room one last time. Her eyes fell upon the Yale board, formerly known as the Harvard board.

888

_Luke's diner was full of people that morning, but only two were making pro/con lists._

_"Okay, let's see. Looks like Harvard definitely has the smallest class sizes." Lorelai commented, shuffling through the brochures they had assembled. _

_"Okay, we've got our first entry here. It's a pro for Harvard." Rory said, scribbling the first pro on the paper. _

_"Oh, whoa, whoa, those are not the final official pro/con lists." Lorelai informed in a haughty tone._

_" Why? What's wrong with them?" Rory asked. _

_" Well, the lines are crooked, the printing's all sloppy. Harvard, Princeton and Yale cannot see them looking like that." Lorelai insisted._

_"They're not going to see our pro/con lists." Rory said. _

_" What if they subpoena them?" Lorelai wondered aloud. _

_"Then I'll roll 'em up in a ball and eat 'em." Rory assured her mother. _

_"Oh, a big pro for Yale – they have 1100 members of the maintenance staff. Clean, clean, clean." Lorelai said in a sing-song voice._

_"All three of these places probably have the same number." The college-bound student countered. _

_"But Yale must be crowing about it for some reason. Princeton might only have two." Lorelai told her daughter. _

_"Two?" Rory questioned. _

_"Yeah." _

_"You think there're a total of two guys cleaning all of Princeton?" Rory asked again. _

_"Write "Princeton's stinking filthy" in big letters." Lorelai joked. _

_"Yeah, I'm pretending to write it as we speak."_

_888_

Lorelai got up, wiped her eyes one last time, and ran out to meet Luke.


End file.
